Two Progress Customers Honored in Insurance & Technology's Elite 8 for 2009

Progress Software is pleased to report two of our customers were named to Insurance and Technology’s Elite 8 for 2009. To paraphrase the editor-in-chief of Insurance and Technology, this annual award identifies outstanding insurance technology leaders, who are managing IT in the new highly scrutinized world of financial services, with enthusiasm and determination.

In this article and video Keith Sievers from Unitrin describes how they improved their operational responsiveness by implementing an ACORD-Standards based architecture “for reduced costs, better quality, faster time to market and greater reliability and performance." Unitrin is using Progress Sonic ESB with SI to “federate and share technology across the three Unitrin companies through shared services.”  One interesting fact is that Keith Sievers and his team recognized early on that including ACORD standards in their “enterprise philosophy” would contribute to their success by reducing risk in their implementation.

Unitrin’s successful application of ACORD standards is interesting in light of fellow honoree John Kellington from ACORD. John is another Progress customer, and another of Insurance and Technology’s Elite 8 (article). John was honored for his leadership in advancing the ACORD Framework and Enterprise Architecture. It’s ACORD’s belief (and ours too) that an enterprise architecture which will enable insurance IT organizations to simplify their system portfolios, reducing maintenance burdens and improving development capabilities. John points out that reducing IT ecosystem complexity (often represented by those infamous “Spaghetti charts” or “New York City sewer maps”) eases that “resource strain that seems never-ending.”

Progress is proud to be playing a role in ACORD’s efforts to develop these critical assets for every insurance IT organization. Progress was selected to support the ACORD Standards Framework with unambiguous maps between the new ACORD Information Model and its existing Property/Casualty/Surety, Life/Health/Annuities, and Reinsurance/Large Commercial XML standards. And we have worked closely with ACORD to release the Browsers for ACORD with the aim of enabling the ACORD-membership to become even more familiar the XML standards.

You can always learn more by emailing us at sales@progress.com. But, if you have the time, you should also consider attending the ACORD Implementation Forum in Fort Lauderdale, FL Nov 3-6, 2009. it’s a great opportunity to learn and network. This year AIF promises to be an exciting event this year with many interesting programs including:

• Frank Neugabauer (ACORD) and Boris Bulanov (Progress) introducing the ACORD Framework and semantic mapping from 4:00pm-5:00pm on 3 Nov

• Demonstrations of the Browser for ACORD at the “You Drive” Sessions from 12:30-2:30pm on 5 Nov

• Conversations and networking with experts, like Boris Bulanov, at the Expert Café and Lunch from 12:30 – 1:30pm on 4 Nov

• And finally, the opportunity to receive your own copy of the ACORD Information Model: A Primer just by visiting Booth #3 at AIF.